illnesses
by mezzalou
Summary: an illness is spreading through sydney, first a oy gets it and now cate, but can they stop it from spreading before they figure out what it is
1. Chapter 1

Cate woke up in the morning on a busy Monday morning; she rolls over to the side looking to the bed side table, she thinks to herself wondering why her alarm hadn't gone off, she grabs her phone and she realizes that she slept through her alarm, she flings the duvet back off her body, she quickly gets out of bed, placing her feet flat against the cold floor, when she stands up groaning at the aching joints and the sore throat, and headache she has.

After getting dressed ready for work and taking throat tablets, she quickly grabs her coat and heads too work for the boring day on the ambulances , but her body feels like being back in bed, when she moves her body she feels tired and nauseous, she puts it down to the tablets she took on an empty stomach.

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Ambulance operations HQ

Cate walked into headquarters only to be met by a frustrated heath who is angry for at his partner for showing up to work half an hour late for work, but he soon changed his demeanour when he took a good look at her facial features, to him she looked like she was hungover and had been in the bathroom throwing up this morning since she looked white as a sheep when she came in to his view.

"Finally my partner decides to show up" says Heath sarcastically.

"Piss off heath "says Cate in a low and tired voice.

"Ooh ok techy, what's gotten into you today" asks Heath in a scared voice.

Cate heads to get changed, a few minutes later she returns to the ambulance where she meets her partner who is leaning against the driver's door.

"You driving then" asks heath.

"Err can you drive today "says cate turning down his offer to drive.

Heath and cate get in the ambulance and start to drive, waiting for a call out, they drive out and around during the time between calls, during their drive heath decides to pry into his partner's life, without telling her what he thinks of her on this busy Monday.

"So big night last night" says heath starting the conversation off.

"What you going on about" asks Cate.

"You, you came in late this morning I just hope that that it wasn't due to a big night last night" states Heath.

"For your information Heath I hadn't had a big night, I just don't feel well today, and to top it all off I slept through my alarm" sighs Cate going off in a rant.

"Oh right, well what are your symptoms" asks Heath?

"Ok I feel tired, achy joints and a sore throat and a sore chest" states Cate.

"Really, ok" says Heath pulling the ambulance to the side of the road.

"Heath what the hell are you doing" asks Cate.

"Well I don't want to work with someone who is sick, so I want to do your vitals starting with your temperature" says heath explaining his plan to cate while holding the thermometer.

"Fine if it gets you off my back and may be back home and into my bed" says Cate making him take her temperature.

Heath takes her temperature, with the device in her ear he waits for it to beep; after it beeps he reads the red numbers which read 39.8.

"Well you weren't lying you do have a fever, which is 39.8, I think you should take something to bring it down" suggests Heath.

"No don't I took some this morning just before I left the house" answers cate.

"Good but I don't think its took effect so how about some more" says Heath.

"No am fine" says Cate turning down the drugs.

"Ok what's going on" asks Heath?

"Nothing" answers Cate fastly.

"really you better answer me before I turn this vehicle round and take you to all saints so a doctor can take a proper look at you" says heath in a stern voice.

"ok after I took the tablets, I threw up after them, and since then I have had persistent nausea, and some abdominal cramps that have gone" states Cate.

Before heath can react they receive a call out to a you lad injured at home.

"Hey when get to all saints I am asking a doctor to look at you" says Heath

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Call out

Residential address

Heath arrives at the house they grab all the necessary bags from the van, when they get to the door and they knock on the door, soon a middle aged women answers the door, heath notices the women is high, they walk past the women in to the living room where they find they young boy unconscious, on the floor lay down in a pool of his own vomit.

"Hello ambulance service" says Heath walking to the boy in the process greeting the belligerent parents, who seem to be out of it.

"Please hurry it's my boy he is so sick" sobs the jittery women.

"Okay what happened "asks cate trying to soothe the women?

"What just please help him" says women declining to answer cate's question.

"We can't help him until you tell us what he has taken" states cate getting angry.

"Hey bitch just help him okay, we don't have to answer to you or you stupid pal over there" shout jittery partner.

"hey asshole we are here to help your child, and at the moment me and my partner can't help him because we haven't got all the facts, now I don't care what you shoot up in your veins or snort up your nose, but I do care about this lad, he looks to me that he has taken something" shouts cate.

"Hey bitch get out of my face and get out of my house" says the now violent jittery man, but not before he lands a swift blow to her abdomen.

Soon cate bends over clutching her side, groaning through the pain of the hefty blow she just took from this man.

"hey now leave my partner alone, all we want to know is what he has taken, if we wait any longer your son will die because I don't believe it's just an simple od, I think there is something else wrong with him, so please tell us what he's taken then we can help him and get him to the hospital for treatment before he gets bad" shouts heath trying to be the peacemaker.

"Fine he took some coke, he found our stash and helps himself to them, but I didn't know he was going to take them, but please save my baby" sobs mother.

"Ok what's your name" asks Cate?

"Missy… missy Blake, and this is damo my partner, and this is my son little Alfie" answers women introducing her whole family to them.

"Ok missy I need to know has Alfie been ill before today" asks Heath?

"Err yeah he complained of a headache, tiredness and achy joints, I thought he was trying to bunk of school, but I check this morning and he had a temperature" explains Mum.

"What was his temperature at on the last reading" asks Heath?

"Err about 100.1" answers Missy.

"okay i am going to carry your son in my arms, we need to get him to hospital quickly" states heath grabbing the boy and making a mad dash with him towards the ambulance with cate in tow, but the parents are nowhere to be scene.

Heath radios to base and asks them to relay a message about the patient, who has an illness that maybe contagious, since he is showing the same symptoms as cate.

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Emergency department

All saints

Gabrielle jaeger is the Nursing unit manager of the emergency department, when the phone at the nurses station ring s she answers, even when it's from the ambulance operations alerting her to a possible contagion from a patient coming in.

"Err frank I need a word with you in private" asks Gabrielle trying to get a busy frank on his own.

"Ok gabby what is it, can't you see I am busy" shouts frank.

"Yes I can but I need to tell you something about the incoming we have, and it is needs to know" states Gabrielle, being discreet with the details.

Soon frank and Gabrielle is in their shared office, frank sits down waiting for the nurse to speak.

"I had a call from ambulance operations, heath and cate are bringing in a young boy suffering from an od, but heath thinks he has something else, operations relay the message and in it states the boys symptoms, I wrote them down, here they are" says Gabby explaining it to frank.

"is he sure all the symptoms are here" asks Frank.

"Yep, I think I know what he thinks it is , and by the look on your face I think you have an idea too" says Gabrielle.

"Yes I do, Measles" says Frank saying his thoughts.

"Well if it is what we do" asks Gabby.

"Isolate the boy and anyone who comes into contact with him or are showing signs of the same symptom" states Frank walking out the office and to the nurse's station ready to address his staff.

Frank addresses the staff, and re assures them of the dangers, he organises a team of staff that will deal with the boy and the people who have been in contact with him, but soon the questions star firing and he gives the answers bluntly to them.

"listen we don't know for sure, until he arrives and then we can treat him, but we are certain the boy has measles which I know is contagious but I know most of you have been vaccinated, so don't panic, we will designate sub acute2 through to 4, as the isolation area until its confirmed" says frank.


	2. Chapter 2

Illness part 2

Frank and Gabrielle stood at the emergency department doors waiting for the possible contagion incoming into their department, they stood waiting in linen thin white gowns they wear them for any serious or contagious patient that enters their department.

They walk outside to meet the ambulance, at the ambulance bay they stood watching as the ambulance reversed into park and came to a halt, out jumps heath running to the back of the vehicle, he opens the back doors and soon his partner pops out the back wheeling the trolley as she goes.

Soon the everybody was inside the department, frank and Gabrielle guided them towards the sub-acute area, the designated ones for being treated for a contagious illness.

Heath and cate where about to leave the building when all of a sudden frank shouts them back.

"Hey you two where do you think you're going" shouts frank.

"Err back on the road" answers cate.

"Oh did you two not get told that anyone who came into contact with the boy is being checked out" explains frank.

"Oh goodie make sure you give us both a thorough check, wouldn't want you good doctors to miss something, that's right in front of your eyes "says Heath sarcastically.

"What" asks frank not in the mood for a joke.

"Oh ignore him frank he is just winding you up" says cate plonking her down on the bed in sub-acute 3.

"Well no more sarcastic jokes, and fill out these forms and me or Zoe will be back to examine you before we can let you get back to work" says Frank passing them admission forms.

"Hey make sure your honest on that form, and tell frank everything because if you don't I will" says Heath being reasonable.

"Right you two I don't know what's going on between you both, but please talk or pipe down its getting boring to listen to" shouts frank.

"Yeah cate let's be honest about how we feel today, it might get us out of here faster" says Heath prompting her on.

"Oh you two have feelings for each other" says Frank sarcastically.

"No and I am fine, for your information" says Cate bluntly.

"Right McMasters let Gabrielle take blood and do your vitals, then we just wait for the results, if you feel ill afterwards come back" explains frank.

"Hey frank maybe you can talk to cate she aint listening to me and I think she is holding back on some truths" says Heath, getting frank involved in there little dispute.

"ok cate, heath here says you're not being honest, know if you were holding something back about anything, I need to know, as you already know from being a nurse, so please tell me what's going on" prompts frank.

"Fine I was ill before this all happened and I was feeling off before work which is why I was late to work" explains Cate.

"Ok what are your symptoms" asks Frank?

"Tired, headache, achy joints and flu like symptoms" says Cate reeling off her symptoms to frank.

"So you have the same symptoms as the boy, but before you treated him today, anything else" asks Frank.

"I took her temperature in the ambulance before the shout it was 39.9, I offered some meds to bring the temp down she refused" explains heath butting in before his partner got a chance to talk.

"Ok why did you refuse the pills they could've helped" asks Frank now raising his voice which got the attention of Zoe and Gabrielle who were already heading towards the cubicle first.

Zoe and Gabrielle walk into the cubicles

"Hey you three what's all the raised voices for in here, we can hear you in rescus" says Gabrielle.

"Oh people refusing to take medications and now refusing to give an explanation" says Frank looking to cate while talking.

"ok well we have the results on the boy, he tested positive for measles, and I am afraid he took a turn for the worse, we had to intubate" says zoe reading the test results.

"Great just all we need, tell ambulance operations that all saints is closed to any emergency's, but we are taking patients that present symptoms of measles, anyone test positive or shows signs isolate them immediately starting with the boy and cate" explains frank.

"Why cate" asks Zoe and Gabrielle in unison.

"cate only just told me that she has some of the signs, for measles could you both examine her and take blood, I am going to sort out this mess" says Frank leaving the cubicle abruptly.

Frank walks off in a huff, heading towards his and Gabrielle's office.

"Wow know I know why they call him cranky Franky" says Gabrielle.

"Gabrielle, I never knew you could be so nasty sometimes, ok let's get a full work up on cate and help me do a full body exam, check for a rash, and could we start an iv of the same medications as the young boy, we also need to ask cate where she has been in the last few weeks, try and locate the source of the outbreak" explains Zoe talking to Gabrielle.

Gabrielle and Zoe walk to the quarantine area where they start working on cate and the young boy for the time being.

"Ok cate get out of your work clothes and place them into this, and get into a gown" says Gabrielle handing the gown over to her.

Cate gets up from the bed, only to get a sudden sharp wave of pain wash through her abdomen, causing her to wince and clutch her abdomen; the sudden noise from the ambo gave her colleague and Gabrielle gasp at her sudden noise.

"You ok cate" asks Gabrielle walking to the side of the bed.

"Yeah" whispers cate breathing through the pain.

"No she is not just get zoe" shouts heath.

"Ok heath, I can see your concerns for her, but I need to know what's wrong and I can't talk to her while your shouting "says Gabrielle talking down the shocked heath.

"Now are you in pain" asks Gabrielle?

"Yes" answers cate.

"Ok let's get you into the gown and I will let zoe now about the new symptom" explains Gabrielle shutting the curtains to the cubicle.

In the cubicle she helps cate stand on her own two feet, once she is evenly balanced she helps her to undress, and get into the gown, sorting the drips wires as she goes, once she is all tucked up in the bed, Gabrielle opens the curtains signalling there done, she leaves to find zoe who is not that far away, she walks over to zoe who is in a vigorous conversation with frank, she approaches the two senior doctors and starts to talk to them.

"Hey Zoe, cate has developed a new symptom" explains Gabrielle.

"What's her new symptom" asks Zoe.

"She's complaining of abdomen pain" answers Gabrielle.

"Ok I will come and take a look at her know" says Zoe following behind her, and walking to the cubicle where cate lay, they enter the cubicle and close the curtains.

"Hey cate Gabrielle tells me that you have abdomen pain" says Zoe trying to get a response out of the scared ambo.

"Yeah but it's gone know" states cate.

"Ok but can I take a look please" asks Zoe.

"Sure go ahead" says cate letting the doctor prod her and poke her.

Zoe examines cate stomach, pressing on different areas, unitl she comes to a point just below her belly button, when she presses cate winces from the pain caused by the press, hearing the groan coming from her patient she stops.

"Ok I'm finished, am going to order bloods and some scans of your abdomen" says Zoe explaining to cate.

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Heaths cubicle

Heath sat on the bed waiting to hear the news of his test results, also he was waiting to hear about the young boy, but while he sat their he cast his mind back to two weeks ago, when he and cate attended a call of a young boy with suspected measles, then he put two and two together, both boys went to the same school, he quickly gets up from the bed and heads out the cubicle only to go in search of frank and when he finds him talking to zoe he approaches them.

"Doctor Campion can I talk to you to please" asks Heath.

"Yeah sure but why you not in the cubicle" asks Frank.

"I was but then I have been racking my brain trying to think how me and cate could of caught measles, then I figured it out" says Heath telling them his memory's.

"Ok go ahead" prompts Zoe.

"Two weeks ago I and cate attended a young lad collapsed and respiratory distress, later in hospital he tested positive for measles" answers Heath.

"Ok so you two caught it, but how the young lad gets it" asks Zoe confused.

"Figured that one out too, when I was at the call this morning I seen uniform for infant school, I recognized it because the young boy from two weeks ago he went to the same school" explains heath.

"Great so the school is ground zero, and do you know if you or cate were vaccinated" asks Frank.

"Err yeah I was don't know about cate, but she is ok last time I saw her" asks heath.

Gabrielle walks up to frank and hands him heath and cate results, frank reads them, and he is not happy with the results.

"Is that the results" asks Zoe looking to frank and seeing the look on his face.

"Yeah" answers Frank.

"So what's the verdict" asks Heath.

"You tested negative, so you are free to go" says frank looking at heath.

"And cate" asks Heath.

"She tested positive but not for measles" answers frank.

"So what did she test positive for" asks Zoe?

"Pregnancy" answers Frank.

"She's pregnant, that explains the abdomen pain, has she got measles" asks Zoe?

"Yes but she has been vaccinated so instead she has the flu type instead, we can treat the flu symptoms, but we all know that she could miscarry" explains Frank.

"Who's going to tell her" asks Heath.

"I will I examined her, and I am going to try and prevent a miscarriage" says Zoe walking off in the direction of the cubicles.

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Cate's cubicle

Cate lay on the trolley cradling her stomach willing the persistent nausea to subside along with the ever so frequent abdomen pain she had been getting, she moves around in the bed to get comfortable, but she hit a dead end, soon she looks up to see zoe and Gabrielle walking to her cubicle, she looks to Gabrielle who wanders to get a few medical instruments, and soon she brings them into the cubicle alongside zoe.

"hey cate how you feeling , any more pain" asks Zoe.

"yeah abit, but that's all" answers cate.

"anything else" asks Gabrielle taking in her pasty facial expression.

"oh just some nausea, I feel like throwing up" answers cate breathing through the next wave of nausea, but soon she feels the bile rise in the back of her throat, a small dish is placed in her hands, she sits forward and she heaves whatever food or water is in her stomach she brings up.

"ok you finished" asks Gabrielle, she receives a nod from cate, who sits back trying to get her breath back,.

"ok cate we have the results of your tests, and they are pretty surprising, know I need to explain things to you but I know you know some stuff, but bear with me" explains Zoe.

"please zoe get on with it I have been sat in this uncomfortable bed for most of the day, and I feel sick and tired, and I think my temperature has gone up since you last checked so please just tell me have I got measles" demands cate.

"Ok, you did test positive for measles, but we know you are vaccinated so instead you get a case of the flu instead" answers Zoe.

"Oh god" sighs cate.

"I know but, I need to know something else, when did you start feeling sick" asks Zoe.

"What do you mean" asks Cate?

"Ok cate, the nausea and throwing up, and maybe the tiredness, can be explained by something else, which you tested positive for" says Zoe.

"What is it" asks Cate?

"You're pregnant, and the abdomen pain you're getting could be the start of a miscarriage, so I want to keep you in and examine you properly and try and prevent it" explains Zoe.

"What would you like to do first" asks Gabrielle?

"please do her vitals, and I am going to speak to gyn and see If they can come down and examine her, and put another bag of saline up keep hydrated, and give her 5mg of paracetamol for the pain and temperature" explains zoe.

"Ok" answers Gabrielle getting on with her job.

Soon gynaecology comes down and examines cate, they tell they proud mom to be that her baby is fine now and she hadn't miscarried, but she nearly did thanks to zoe quick thinking, 20 minutes later they leave her to rest and recuperate, while the rest of the staff work on stopping the epidemic, of the measles outbreak.

Heath walks over to cate and sits with his partner.

"hey heath I heard you are clear" says cate in a tired voice.

"yep, I heard you are very poorly, and you also need a friend, look am sorry about this morning, I should have been nicer, I was just looking out for you" explains heath.

"I know, but I won't be back for a few weeks" explains cate.

"Yeah I know but I could come and visit you as a friend" says heath talking to a tired cate who is yawning.

"look get some rest, I'll go now"

"No stay please, I haven't got any family close by at the moment, I could do with a friend near me" says cate grabbing his hand before drifting off to sleep.

Heath grasps her hand and he holds it while she sleeps.


End file.
